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NEW DELHI (AP) – As coronavirus cases continue to climb, Honduras has had enough of waiting to get vaccinated under a United Nations program, so the small Central American country struck alone, getting the shots through a private deal.
Honduras “cannot wait for bureaucratic processes or ill-advised decisions” to give citizens the “peace of mind” offered by the COVID-19 vaccine, said Juan Carlos Sikaffy, chairman of the Honduran Private Business Council, who helped finalize the purchase by providing a bank guarantee.
Other nations are also growing impatient. Unlike past epidemics, where poorer countries generally waited for vaccines to be delivered by the UN and other organizations, many are now taking matters into their own hands. Experts are increasingly concerned that these stand-alone efforts could undermine a UN-backed program to get COVID-19 vaccines to those most in need around the world.
Countries like Serbia, Bangladesh, and Mexico recently started immunizing citizens through donations or trade deals – an approach that could leave even fewer vaccines for the program known as COVAX, since rich countries have already recouped the majority of this year’s supply.
Led by the World Health Organization, an epidemic preparedness coalition known as CEPI and a vaccine alliance called GAVI, COVAX was formed to equitably distribute COVID-19 vaccines. Countries can join either to purchase vaccines or to receive vaccines.
Mustaqeem De Gama, a diplomat with the South African mission in Geneva, cited “a level of desperation” fueled by the spread of virus variants and “uncertainty over the arrival of COVAX vaccines”. He doubts that countries that have signed up for COVAX “will even get 10% of what they need.”
Even if the effort is successful, COVAX’s stated goal is to immunize less than 30% of people in poor countries, which means governments must seek other sources to obtain enough vaccine to achieve herd immunity. .
Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said his country was forced to make its own deals after seeing rich countries scramble for the few shots. He criticized countries which, he said, bought more doses than needed.
“It’s like they intend to vaccinate all of their cats and dogs,” he says.
Although Serbia paid 4 million euros to COVAX last year, it has yet to receive any vaccines and last month started its vaccination campaign with vaccines from Pfizer, Sinopharm in China and Russia.
Recent manufacturing delays in Europe raise concerns about the ability of drugmakers to fill rising orders.
“There are so many deals being signed that I think it’s hard to see how the numbers could add up for all the doses ordered to actually be produced for the foreseeable future,” said Amanda Glassman, expert in public health and executive vice-president. of the Center for Global Development.
Last week, the African Union reached an agreement for 400 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine, to be produced by the Serum Institute of India. This is in addition to a previously negotiated deal with the African Union for 270 million doses from several pharmaceutical companies and in addition to the 600 million doses Africa expects to receive from COVAX.
Some experts warn that these new offers could move COVAX further back down the line, especially if some countries are willing to pay a premium for speed.
To ensure that South Africans receive timely doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine, government officials have reluctantly agreed to pay a higher price per injection than Europe or North America. The first shipments arrived this week.
COVAX hopes to start shipping its first batches of vaccine to Africa later this month, but those plans are subject to change based on manufacturers ‘production capacities and countries’ vaccination plans.
Mexico began immunizing health workers in December due to a direct purchase agreement with Pfizer, but progress has been slow. In recent weeks, the country has given emergency approval to Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine, but said the first batches were not due until later this month.
Kate Elder, senior vaccine policy adviser at Doctors Without Borders, said developing countries should not be criticized for making private vaccine deals since that is precisely what rich countries did last year.
“Each country is doing just what it feels it needs to do to protect its people,” she said, but the ability of poor countries and regions to get vaccinated faster than COVAX could hinder future UN efforts. .
“If countries get vaccinated on their own, how do WHO and GAVI deliver them?” she asked.
Although India has pledged to supply COVAX with several hundred million doses of vaccine, the vaccines have not yet been authorized by the WHO, meaning India cannot release them for the program. United Nations. Meanwhile, India has already offered its neighbors, including Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Nepal, more than 5 million doses.
Dr Haritha Aluthge, of the Sri Lanka Government Association of Physicians, called on WHO to intervene amid intense competition for vaccines and COVAX’s failure to deliver.
“Not a single dose (of COVAX) has been received,” Aluthge said.
WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus recently warned the world is on the brink of ‘catastrophic moral failure’ if COVID-19 vaccines are not distributed fairly, but the agency lacks the power to force rich countries to share.
His pleas for countries to act in solidarity were mostly ignored.
Norway is the only country that has said it will send vaccines to developing countries because its own citizens are vaccinated, but did not specify how many would be donated. Britain has said it will not divert any vaccines until it completes its own vaccination program. Australia, which has mostly eradicated COVID-19, has no timetable for when it could share vaccines with its poorer neighbors in Southeast Asia and the Pacific Islands.
The relentless pressure on global vaccine supplies could only increase when more vaccines prove effective, said Krishna Udayakumar, director of the Duke Global Health Institute.
“COVAX is the only global multilateral platform to enable something close to global access and equity, and yet it has access to a relatively small amount of vaccines,” he said. “The only way out is to have more vaccines.”
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Cheng reported from Toronto. Associated Press editors Dusan Stojanovic in Belgrade, Christopher Sherman in Mexico City, Marlon González in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, and Krishan Francis in Colombo, Sri Lanka, contributed to this report.
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